Last week I held my annual studio recital at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto. Since I teach children, teenagers, and adults, I like to break up the program into two halves, the first for the younger students and second for adults of all ability levels. You see, many of my adult students are terrified at the thought of having to play after some young hotshot and feel much more comfortable around those of their own age, even though they might be playing at vastly different ability levels. Thus, an advanced student might be greatly inspired by watching an adult beginner who has made great strides in a short period of time, just as that beginner can learn much from watching an advanced player they can relate to. I’ve found that younger students can be thrust into all sorts of difficult performance situations without too much fretting, whereas adults need to feel comfortable with the situation and with each other before they can play at their best.
Posted in Performing, Promoting Your Studio
Many of us associate famous musicians with their instrument and the instrument’s builder. That powerful imagery has become a marketing tool that has beneficially served both the artist and the instrument builder.
But as a teacher, we have the power to influence a great number of people as well.
For years, I played Ibanez Soundgear basses, Ovation acoustic electric guitars, and Les Paul style guitars. After a year or two, my beginner students would start moving on from their starter instruments. There was an unusually high percentage of Ibanez Soundgear basses and Ovation acoustic electrics in the mix of new purchases.
Later on, I acquired a Gibson SG and switched to playing Spector and LightWave basses. Not surprisingly, the next batch of students tended to gravitate to SG style guitars (made by a wide variety of builders…Samick, Epiphone, and even Ibanez) and a few Spector basses entered the mix.
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Posted in Press, Professional Development, Promoting Your Studio, Studio Management, Teaching Tips
As the school academic year is coming to an end, many students will be starting summer vacation soon. It is a busy time of the year, as we prepare our students for that last audition/recital/jury/competition, before they take off for the summer. Most companies provide their shareholders and investors an end-of-year report, outlining the year’s activities and successes. As I gather information to put together my end-of-year Studio Report (using the Pages App on my iPad), I would like to share with fellow teachers some of my thoughts.
My Studio Report is separate from individual student progress reports. Although it is one more item on our never-ending “To-do” list, taking the time to write a Studio Report has many advantages, including:
1. Keep your current students
2. Attract potential new students
3. Important record-keeping for teacher certification/renewal Read more…
Posted in Financial Business, Promoting Your Studio, Studio Management
Image by allaboutgeorge
Yesterday when judging the ORMTA Southern Zone Competition in Hamilton, Ontario, one of the participants came up to me before performing and asked if it would be appropriate if he talked about one of the pieces on his program before playing it. My response to the pianist was that more than being just appropriate, it was a brilliant idea and I looked forward to hearing him speak.
The piece that he was playing was Larysa Kuzmenko’s In Memoriam to the Victims of Chernobyl, a dramatic, moving, and atonal piece, precisely the kind of piece that many people might have difficulty connecting with. That is, until they understand that it is also a work dedicated to those who perished in the most catastrophic nuclear accident in history. The pianist also mentioned the current Japanese nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiishi nuclear plant as a contemporary frame of reference. Because of his introduction, the audience was able to connect with his fine performance on a level that they might not have had he not talked beforehand.
Audiences love it when performers talk. It is absolutely necessary for every single type of popular music, and many artists in these genres are able to connect in ways that they would not be able to by merely keeping silent and playing their music.
We in the classical music world need to learn how to talk to audiences for two reasons:
Posted in Performing, Professional Development, Promoting Your Studio
I was speaking with a beginner teacher last week and offered her some advice on some issues she was having in her studio. Below are five tips I think all beginner teachers should know before starting out. Read more…
Posted in Financial Business, Promoting Your Studio, Studio Management, Teaching Tips
Tips on Music Studio Marketing
January 7th, 2011 by Guest Author
Having your own music studio can be a fantastic way to use your creative energies and give back to the music community by teaching your love of music. Being able to harness the power and emotion that music can convey can be a big responsibility, but with the proper training and equipment, every musician that enters your studio will surely be in good hands. So after you have built your music studio, what do you do next? First of all, you will need to put the word out. You need to market your studio as well as yourself so that you can get some clients. So how do we go about marketing our studio? With a little bit of creativity and hard work, you will have some of the most aspiring musicians knocking at your door.
Create your Own Website
Every business needs a website in order to survive these days and having your own music studio is just like any other business. Your site can have pictures of your studio, schedules, rates, etc. Read more…
Posted in Promoting Your Studio, Studio Management
5 Tips for Music Teachers
December 7th, 2010 by Guest Author
They’re a very special class of people because they must be talented at multiple levels – music teachers must not only know the ins and outs of music, they must also have the skill to impart this knowledge to their students. Some teachers play more than one instrument while others stick to one chosen favorite. But no matter what the choice of instrument, the teaching methods remain almost the same. If you’re considering becoming a music teacher or already are one, here are a few tips that will come in handy:
• Tailor your classes to your students: Music does not have rigid curriculums or syllabi; it’s an expressive and creative art that conforms to aesthetic sense and rhythm. So instead of using one fixed method of teaching for all your students, Read more…
Posted in Promoting Your Studio, Studio Management, Teaching Tips
Building A Network Leads To Success
November 20th, 2010 by Guest Author
In 2005, I very happily began employment as a teacher in a private school in West Virginia. While I always kept a few private students on the side, I enjoyed working in the classroom setting. Then in the summer of 2008, the school hit hard economic times, resulting in half of the staff losing their jobs, including me. By the next summer, the school had closed.
What does this have to do with private teaching? Well, my sudden loss of employment gave me some time for reflection. I had been teaching privately and consistently since my late teens. I love teaching, whether in a classroom or one-on-one. I came to a conclusion and starting concocting a plan. The conclusion: Private teaching had always treated me well, and I wanted to make that my primary source of income. The plan: Live simply and devote my energies to building my private teaching studio. Read more…
Posted in Professional Development, Promoting Your Studio, Studio Management
I have had an interesting life of moving. I was born in Taiwan, immigrated to New Zealand with my family when I was a teenager, moved to Long Island, New York with my husband in 2005, and most recently moved to southern California in 2009. After graduating from university, I had a very successful full time teaching career before moving to the United States, then after much effort, just as I finally re-established a full time studio in New York, I had to move again! It has been a year since my last move, and I am happy to say that my studio is once again healthy. I am going to share the secrets of how I rebuilt my studio from scratch, twice!
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Posted in Promoting Your Studio, Using Music Teacher's Helper
I am inspired to write this entry after reading Chris Foley’s well written article “Lessons learned from a studio recital”.
Chris listed many important factors regarding how to plan for a successful recital. It is this time of the year again when many teachers hold a recital at the end of the year to coincide with the holiday season; I thought I would add onto Chris’s list, sharing my own experiences planning for studio recitals.
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Posted in Promoting Your Studio, Studio Management, Teaching Tips